TASCHINGER: Virus hampers Biden, boosts Bernie

Published
11:31 am CDT, Monday, April 6, 2020

(FILES) In this file photo Democratic presidential hopefuls Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (L) and former Vice President Joe Biden gesture as they participate in the tenth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season co-hosted by CBS News and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, South Carolina, on February 25, 2020. - Three weeks ago, Joe Biden and rival Bernie Sanders were hosting rallies that attracted thousands. The pair often visited two states a day in their fierce and spirited battle for votes.Today, they appear online as lonely candidates hunkered down in their homes, forced off the trail and into campaign reinvention mode as the intensifying coronavirus pandemic upends the Democratic presidential primaries along with every other aspect of American life. (Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images) less

(FILES) In this file photo Democratic presidential hopefuls Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (L) and former Vice President Joe Biden gesture as they participate in the tenth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 ... more

Photo: JIM WATSON, Contributor / AFP Via Getty Images

Photo: JIM WATSON, Contributor / AFP Via Getty Images

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(FILES) In this file photo Democratic presidential hopefuls Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (L) and former Vice President Joe Biden gesture as they participate in the tenth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season co-hosted by CBS News and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, South Carolina, on February 25, 2020. - Three weeks ago, Joe Biden and rival Bernie Sanders were hosting rallies that attracted thousands. The pair often visited two states a day in their fierce and spirited battle for votes.Today, they appear online as lonely candidates hunkered down in their homes, forced off the trail and into campaign reinvention mode as the intensifying coronavirus pandemic upends the Democratic presidential primaries along with every other aspect of American life. (Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images) less

(FILES) In this file photo Democratic presidential hopefuls Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (L) and former Vice President Joe Biden gesture as they participate in the tenth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 ... more

Photo: JIM WATSON, Contributor / AFP Via Getty Images

TASCHINGER: Virus hampers Biden, boosts Bernie

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Joe Biden might be the unluckiest politician in America right now, with the coronavirus shutting down primaries and making it hard for him to nail down the Democratic presidential nomination. If he is, that makes Bernie Sanders the luckiest candidate. The virus has given the socialist a lifeline in the presidential campaign, or at least delayed the inevitable. And every day that Bernie’s candidacy is on life support, he can keep hammering away at his themes — and irritating Biden.

Biden is still in position to be the Democratic opponent to President Trump in November. If the virus fades away this summer as expected (or hoped) he can still enjoy a raucous sendoff at the convention and an unimpeded campaign in the fall. But for now he is sidelined like every other non-officeholder, and it cramps his style. He can’t hold rallies, he can’t give in-person interviews.

Some Democrats have criticized him for not being more outspoken now, especially since Trump is at a podium in the White House every day. And if Trump weren’t Trump, Biden could be in deep trouble. But for every (rare) moment when Trump looks “presidential,” there are others when he says something outlandish. Trump’s ratings have increased lately, mostly because he is the only president we have, and we tend to rally ’round the leader in a crisis. But his approval ratings are still only a few percentage points ahead of his nonapproval numbers, so he is anything but invincible.

The virus also emphasizes Biden’s assets as a calm, trusted leader, whatever you think of him otherwise. He got the Democratic nomination by not being Bernie Sanders, and he may win the presidency by not being Donald Trump.

But again, Bernie is hanging on like that eccentric uncle who refuses to leave the Christmas party. Biden has more than 1,200 of the nearly 2,000 delegates he needs to win the Democratic nomination, and Bernie has only 900. Biden was methodically making progress toward his magic number, and Bernie was growing farther from it each day. But until Democrats can start holding primaries again, Biden can’t finish Bernie’s bid.

Biden could be forced to stagger into the convention with a plurality of delegates but not the clinching number. But back when the primary votes were split, Bernie said the nomination should go to the candidate with the most delegates, especially if it’s by a convincing margin. That will describe Biden, and only the most zealous Bernie Bros would deny that Biden is the consensus choice of Democratic primary voters.

So one way or another, it will be Biden and Trump this fall, with only Biden’s VP choice to be filled in. There was some chatter earlier about Trump replacing Mike Pence as his VP with Nikki Haley, and with Trump you can’t rule anything out. But Pence was named the point man for the virus crisis, and he has avoided the verbal gaffes that Trump tosses out daily.

For now, however, Biden must deal with Bernie’s nagging presence. It’s annoying for him, but he should feel fortunate that the virus held off just long enough for him to emerge as the party’s frontrunner. It’s keeping him from closing out Bernie now, but it would have prevented him from reaching this status if it began a month earlier. The question now is how the virus as an issue will affect Biden and Trump in the fall.

A big part of that will be the national virus response, and Democrats can be expected to emphasize the administration’s late and lacking reaction. But Trump is slowly getting his act together, and if the final toll is somewhere in the minimal range, he can claim he saved America. Fox News will be happy to promote that viewpoint.

The larger impact will be the state of our economy. If a solid recovery has started, Trump will say we’re getting back to pre-virus prosperity. If we’re mired in a gloomy recession, voters will be inclined to change leaders. We’ll know when the weather turns cold again, when the chaos and fear of an otherwise glorious spring could be a fading memory.

Thomas Taschinger, TTaschinger@BeaumontEnterprise.com, is the editorial page editor of The Beaumont Enterprise. Follow him on Twitter at @PoliticalTom.